Contents

History

Burgundy before she became a Connaisseuse

Burgundy was first seen in A Connoisseur's Revenge! working in a lavish Poké Mart somewhere between Pinwheel Forest and the Skyarrow Bridge. She called Ash over, who was waiting in a long line to see a Connaisseuse, to visit her shop instead. He accepted this offer and she immediately pulled him inside her stall and took an interest in Pikachu, a rare Pokémon in Unova. She was then asked to evaluate Sewaddle and decided that, because of his AbilitySwarm, it was a poor Pokémon for Ash's team. She then demanded to see the rest of his party, finding something wrong with each of them. Her actions and evaluation towards the Pokémon caused each and every one of them to attack her. Furious, she exclaimed that Ash is not compatible with any of his Pokémon and demanded that he replace them immediately.

Suddenly, Cilan and Iris interrupted the session after losing track of where Ash had gone. Burgundy, recognizing Cilan, screamed and pointed at him; Cilan, recognizing her in return, then explained that she challenged him at the Striaton Gym a while back and that he managed to defeat her Oshawott with his Pansage. Burgundy explained that his evaluation of her Oshawott had motivated her to want revenge against him, even to go as far as to study on how to become a Pokémon Connaisseuse so she could out do him. When she felt she was ready, she had returned to Striaton City, completely motivated to re-challenge Cilan. However, Chili and Cress explained to her that Cilan had left to travel, crushing Burgundy's spirit; left with little choice, Burgundy battled Chili and won the Trio Badge.

Burgundy challenged Cilan to a two-on-two Pokémon battle and used her Dewott and her premium-brand Pokémon Sawsbuck. Before the match started, she made Cilan promise that he will accept her evaluation that Ash is incompatible with all of his Pokémon and that he would have to let her replace all of them. Cilan agreed, much to Ash's dislike. Both Dewott and Sawsbuck were easily defeated by Cilan's Dwebble and Pansage respectively. In the end, Burgundy decided to leave the Poké Mart to travel on her own. She vowed that the next time she and Cilan meet that she would defeat him. Then Burgundy ran off.

Burgundy reappeared in Reunion Battles In Nimbasa! to participate in the Club Battle tournament. She was put up against Ash in her first battle where she revealed her new premium-brand, a Stoutland. Ash vowed to prove to her that he did have a good relationship with all his Pokémon, and sent out his previously unused Palpitoad. He managed to defeat Burgundy, pushing her out of the tournament in her first battle. She stayed for the remainder of the tournament in order to watch Cilan compete, and to intimidate and insult him before his matches. In the final round, she challenged Cilan to a Connoisseur showdown to see who could evaluate Iris and Ash's battle the best with Stephan being a judge. However, she admitted defeat early in the showdown and she and Cilan watched the remainder of the battle in silence. After the tournament, Burgundy promised to keep working hard and trying her best so she could be better the next time she and Cilan cross paths so that they could finish their Connoisseur showdown. After some words of encouragement from Cilan, she says goodbye.

Burgundy appeared again in Clash of the Connoisseurs! wanting to get into Mr. Hatterly's mansion so she could help his daughter pick out her first Pokémon. Since she was only a C-class Connaisseuse she was denied access and was infuriated that Cilan was allowed in. It did not stop her and she managed to sneak in disguised as an S-class Connoisseur named "Fauxgundy" (Japanese: タベルネTaverne). Her disguise did not hold up however and she was escorted out of the mansion. Later she snuck in again to watch the battle between Cilan and Ricard Nouveau but was sent "blasting off" when Crustle's Rock Wrecker strayed and hit her.

She made a cameo in BW108 in Ash's flashback about his travel in Unova.

Character

Burgundy and her rival, Cilan

Burgundy can act bratty and obnoxious, but she does mean well and loves her Pokémon dearly. Her ultimate goal is to become a great Connaisseuse as a result of her loss to Cilan. She also wishes to defeat him in order to obtain her revenge. Though, the reason for her revenge is often blown out of proportion. She is shown not to take criticism very well on several different occasions, particularly criticism from Cilan.

Burgundy can also be slightly abrasive when it comes to her job as seen when she told Ash to replace all of his Pokémon. Also, she can be too invasive with the Pokémon she evaluates, causing them to attack her. When speaking, she tends to use an array of French words and phrases, some of which are mispronounced. This may be her attempting to appear elegant and graceful.

Though she pretends that she does not wish to learn anything from Cilan, Burgundy always pays the most attention to him whenever he evaluates a Pokémon. Burgundy appears to have a mutual dislike of Georgia, showcased particularly during the Junior Cup, as the latter's snide comments tend to get the better of her.

Pokémon

As an Oshawott, Burgundy's Dewott is defeated by Cilan's Pansage in a past Gym battle. She later used Dewott to battle Cilan once more, this time against his Dwebble. Despite the type advantage and Dewott's good offensive attacks, it could not break through Dwebble's strong defense. It quickly became fatigued, and Dwebble defeated it with a Shell Smash and X-Scissor combo.

Burgundy chose Dewott to participate in the Clubsplosion tournament in The Clubsplosion Begins! where it began its battle with Iris's Excadrill. In Search for the Clubultimate!, Dewott fought against Iris's Excadrill. It started off by using Ice Beam and froze Excadrill partially but he was able to get rid of the ice easily. When he dug underground using Dig, Dewott fired a Water Pulse attack into the hole causing a geyser effect that shot Excadrill out of the ground. When he attacked with Drill Run, Dewott used its two scalchops to block his attack. However the attack knocked its scalchops out of its hands.

Just before Excadrill attacked it with Metal Claw, Burgundy told Dewott to guard itself and take the attacks. It was so that it could initiate Revenge which dealt a lot of damage to Excadrill. That also gave it a chance to retrieve its lost scalchops and use Razor Shell again, but it was still blocked by Excadrill's Drill Run. As he used Focus Blast, Dewott attempted to counter it with Ice Beam but to no avail and it was hit dead on. However it was not finished just yet. After taking a combination of Dig and Drill Run from its opponent, it was defeated and Burgundy was knocked out of the tournament.

Trivia

Burgundy's Connaisseuse catchphrase is "Bonjour! Tasting time s'il vous plaît!" in the original, and "Alors, it is evaluating time s'il vous plaît!" in the dub. In Reunion Battles In Nimbasa!, Burgundy was revealed to have changed it to "Bonjour! New tasting time s'il vous plaît!" in the original, and "Alors, it is reevaluating time s'il vous plaît!" in the dub.

She is the first rival to be defeated by Ash and both of his traveling companions while in a region.

In all the tournaments she has been in thus far, she has not gotten past the first round. She is the only rival to do so.

Burgundy is the only rival in Unova to not have any of her Pokémon's gender confirmed.